Direct Selling: Getting Started

In case you missed part 1, choosing a company, click here.

Once you pick a company to sell for, you may be a bit overwhelmed. My best advice is to jump in and get your feet wet. The more you sell, the more you will find your style and what works best for you.

I suggest you tell anyone and everyone you know about your new adventure and ask them if they would like to host a party. I sent out one email to my entire address book and booked a few parties off that email fairly quickly. Months later, I booked a few more from that first email. Friends and family knew they wanted to have a party some time but timing was not right when I first told them I was selling Tupperware. You never know when a contact now might turn into an opportunity later.

Another great way to get your feet wet is to host your first party. Invite over a good mix of family and friends and introduce them to your company. You will probably have several book parties from you after seeing the product in action. Also, family and friends are much more forgiving so it is a great way to get practice in. I suggest scheduling this open house soon after you order your kit so that you have a good start on your first month in business.

Make sure not everyone is from the same social circle though when inviting friends. You want to be able to eventually branch out to other people outside of your circle and it will be hard if everyone already knows each other.

Also, once you decide to take the leap of faith, ask another consultant in the area if you can attend one of their parties for training. It helps to see what others are doing. My first party was very similar to the training party I went to but shortly afterward I started finding other ways to make my parties my own. It really helped my nerves though to have an example to follow.